Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui in the Central African Republic has visited Alindao town in the center of the country where at least 60 people were killed on Nov. 15 in fighting between armed groups.

After returning to Bangui, he held a press conference with other Christian and Muslim leaders on Nov. 26 to give an update on the situation and to make his thoughts known.

“There was nothing but burning and death. There were children, sick people … There were dead people that were burned so that only their charred remains were left,” Cardinal Nzapalainga said. “I saw people scratching in the dirt to try to collect the remains of rice that had been burned. People lost everything.”

On Nov. 15, the bishop’s residence in Alindao, a small town 500 kilometers south-east of Bangui, was attacked by the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic, an armed Muslim group. About 60 people, including two priests, were killed in that attack.

The bishop’s residence, a convent and a refugee camp were all burned to the ground. More than 20,000 people were forced to flee the region.

According to Vladimir Monteiro, a spokesman for the UN Mission to the Central African Republic, these attacks took place after the Antibalaka, an armed Christian group, killed some Muslims.

Seleka, a coalition of Muslim armed groups, seized power in the majority Christian country in 2013 but were countered by mostly Christian militias, called the anti-balaka.

“We are being pushed into a religious war here in the Central African Republic,” said Bishop Nestor-Désiré Nongo-Aziagbia of Bossangoa (in the north-west) and vice-president of the Central African Bishops’ Conference.

Bishop Nongo-Aziagbia, speaking at the same press conference with the cardinal, refuted accusations that the Catholic Church is supporting the anti-balaka group.

Bishop Nongo-Aziagbia visited Batangafo in the north-west, where fighting resulting in numerous deaths occurred between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2. He claimed some of the contingents of the U.N. peacekeeping forces that were present during the massacres did not intervene.

“In Batangafo, while burnings, killings and thefts were committed, the U.N. peacekeepers did nothing,” he said. “Witnesses in Alindao told us the same thing. There, members of the U.N. peacekeeping contingent from Mauritania laughed while these atrocities were being committed.”

Before the Nov. 24 press conference got underway, the bishops called on the people of Central African Republic to mark the country's "Republic Day" holiday on Dec. 1 as a day of mourning.

“The bishops’ conference is asking, by means of this communiqué, that the Church and all Central African citizens not take part in the Dec. 1 festivities out of solidarity and respect for the memory of the victims, as a sign of mourning.”

But the country’s government, which declared three days of national mourning after the killings in Alindao, is opposed to this idea.

Dec. 2 will — for the Central African bishops and faithful in every diocese in the country — be devoted to prayer in memory of the victims.

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